THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, OEDIPUS REX & More Set for PICT's 2016-17 Season

A new venue, a new season schedule, intimate productions with a focus on characters and acting- PICT Classic Theatre celebrates its twentieth anniversary with a renewed energy and commitment to its mission of providing high-quality classic theater to Pittsburgh.

Following its production of Two Tales of Terror - a two-act adaption of Poe's Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher- in the Henry Heymann Theater from May 5 through 20, PICT will move its five-play mainstage season to Union Project in Highland Park, while also making the shift to a fall-to-spring season schedule.

"In the past, I have selected seasons with a thematic idea in mind," says Stanford. "Yet this year is our twentieth, so it's really quite special. What audiences will get instead is a season that will test our abilities. We're in an entirely new venue, and I've selected a group of intimate plays where the acting and the characters are the central focus. One might almost say that this is a season of characters as much as it is of plays."

PICT traditionally performs established classic plays and those it believes have the potential to become classics, often drawing from Irish or world theatre. For this season, Stanford has selected one of each of the following: A modern and much-adored comedy on a trajectory to becoming a classic, a popular Shakespearean work, a play that was adapted into a popular classic film, a Greek drama that is one of the world's oldest theatrical works, and a classic Irish folk drama.

The productions will be:

· Shirley Valentine, by Willy Russel l - September 1- 17 - Union Project

· The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare - November 3- 19 - Union Project

· The Lion in Winter, by James Goldman - December 1- 17 - Union Project

· Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles - March 23- April 8 - Union Project

· Sive, by John B. Keane- May 4- 20 - Union Project

Stanford also said that PICT hopes to present additional one-off productions and events over the course of the next year, as opportunities arise.

PICT's new season begins September 1, 2016 and runs through May 20, 2017, with single ticket and subscription sales beginning April 1.

Ticket s for Two Tales of Terror are on sale now.